Panasonic’s New Compact Shoots 4K for an Alluring Price

The market for Micro Four
Thirds cameras continues to balloon. These compact mirrorless shooters
with interchangeable lenses are beloved by photography enthusiasts who
want a high-quality camera that’s smaller and easier to manage than a
DSLR. They’re also attractive as an upgrade from a smartphone camera.
Prices for Micro Four Thirds cameras often tip north of $1,000, but
Panasonic’s newest entry comes in well under that mark. The Panasonic
Lumix GX85 will arrive in May, and it will cost $800 for a camera and a
bundled lens.
The GX85 combines some features of the great Lumix GX8, some features of the DSLR-like Lumix G7.
Some of the features in the new camera, however, you won’t find in
either of those. For one thing, the GX85 is significantly more compact
than either of those cameras: Its body is less than two inches deep,
less than five inches wide, and weighs about a pound. It also has the
most powerful stabilization system of any Lumix cameraThe 16-megapixel Lumix GX85 adds five-axis in-body stabilization, giving
it shot-steadying powers similar to Olympus’s OM-D cameras (Panasonic
and Olympus are the leaders in the Micro Four Thirds format). But the new Lumix is also notable for what’s missing: It
follows the recent Nikon trend of removing the optical low-pass filter
(OLPF) in front of the sensor. While the OLPF in many cameras eliminates
moire patterns and color fringing in some shots, those benefits often
come at the expense of detail. So removing it can result in sharper
photos.
This is a camera with 4K features galore, so the extra sharpness and
stabilization features should come in handy. The GX85 records 4K video
at 24 and 30fps, and it also uses its 4K video capture for some unique
still-image features. You can use a “4K burst” mode to capture 30 images
per second at 8-megapixel resolution, a 4K buffering mode that records
30 frames before and after you capture a shot, and a 4K cropping mode
where you can extract HD video from a 4K recording, adding zoom and
pan-and-scan effects within the camera.
It’s also the latest Panasonic camera with the Lytro-like “Post Focus” feature,
which uses focus bracketing to let you select focal points for your
images after you capture them. You’ll make those focus selections on the
GX85’s tilting 3-inch touchscreen, which compliments the camera’s
separate eye-level viewfinder. Other key specs include an ISO range of
100-25,600, RAW/RAW+JPEG shooting, and in-camera Wi-Fi features.
All of that adds up to an intriguing compact interchangeable-lens
shooter at its price—especially for anyone with an interest in 4K
videography. When it ships in late May, the Panasonic Lumix GX85 will
include a 24-64mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens in its $800 package.